“What evolutionary explanation is there for why women are so beautiful?
– or rather –
Why are women beautiful?” - Obori Motswana
Okay, let’s try this from a different angle by asking what it is within our evolutionary and cultural context that make women SEEM more beautiful –at least to guys like me and Obori.
I would first point out the most obvious to any heterosexual male who has gone through puberty: the sense that males always seem to be hornier than females, the sense that while males seem to look at sex as an end itself, females (especially in the years after puberty is reached (seem to see it as a means to an end. For the young male, it always is (not seems in this case (a matter of waking up and finding one-eyed Wally staring him in the face with a stern mandate: if the opportunity arises, you will take it. For women, on the other hand, it SEEMs more like a matter of deciding whether the day warrants wearing their best outfit. This is not to say they are frigid. They clearly have drives –drives which have been scientifically shown to increase as they reach their 30’s as compared to the teens and 20’s for males: one of the cruel ironies of nature.
And we can see this as a residual effect of evolution in which males can produce sperm, along with their genetic makeup, like a common factory, while females are always the guardian of one egg. This, however (in terms of evolutionary psychology, creates a dilemma for females. On one hand, they must seek the optimal male genetic makeup –that is terms of Dawkin’s assertion of all animals as gene machines. On the other, they are always looking for a male that will stick around and help raise the offspring. They are always stuck between 2 evolutionary imperatives. Still, in terms of sexual politics, they always have the advantage of choice as compared to the indiscriminate distribution of sperm from males. In evolutionary terms, it’s as if males are perfectly willing to spread their genetic makeup wherever it will be accepted while females are in a position to be more discriminate. And this would explain why women, from the perspective of the heterosexual, seem to be more beautiful.
This would also explain why throughout most animal species, the male is always the more colorful while, for human heterosexual males, the female seems to be the more beautiful: it’s more of a subjective experience. The funny thing about it is that human males are in the same position as the more colorful peacock or pheasant which they express through the incessant desire to “rule the world” as compared to females who tend to deal with what is in front of their noses.
Now the important thing to understand here is that this is not an assertion that women are mediocre while men are more inclined to greatness. The irony of it is, as I pointed out previously, is that the “in front of the nose” approach of women in artistic endeavors tends to give them a advantage in that they are less prone to the pretenses that come with wanting to “rule the world”. Compare, for instance, Janis Joplin’s down to earthiness as compared to Jimi Hendrix’s desire to rule the cosmos.
This, of course, leaves a lot to be explained. But I’ve ran out my window. I’ll see what you guys do with it and decide then.